Aloysius Lilius (c. 1510 – 1576), also
Luigi Lilio or
Luigi Giglio
was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
doctorA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
,
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars, and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, philosopher and
chronologistChronology is a chronicle or arrangement of events in their order of occurrence in time, such as a timeline. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
who devised the
Gregorian CalendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
.
The crater
LiliusLilius is a lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon. It lies to the north of the crater Zach, and south-southwest of Cuvier. Just to the southeast is the slightly larger Jacobi...
on the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
is named after him. In computer science, the
Lilian dateA Lilian date is the number of days since the beginning of the Gregorian Calendar on October 15 1582, regarded as Lilian date 1. It is named for Aloysius Lilius who devised the Gregorian Calendar. It was invented by Bruce G. Ohms of IBM in 1986....
is the number of days since adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, on 15 October 1582.
Very little is known about the early life of Lilius/Lilio/Giglio.
Aloysius Lilius (c. 1510 – 1576), also
Luigi Lilio or
Luigi Giglio
was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
doctorA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
,
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars, and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
, philosopher and
chronologistChronology is a chronicle or arrangement of events in their order of occurrence in time, such as a timeline. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
who devised the
Gregorian CalendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
.
The crater
LiliusLilius is a lunar impact crater that is located in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon. It lies to the north of the crater Zach, and south-southwest of Cuvier. Just to the southeast is the slightly larger Jacobi...
on the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
is named after him. In computer science, the
Lilian dateA Lilian date is the number of days since the beginning of the Gregorian Calendar on October 15 1582, regarded as Lilian date 1. It is named for Aloysius Lilius who devised the Gregorian Calendar. It was invented by Bruce G. Ohms of IBM in 1986....
is the number of days since adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, on 15 October 1582.
Life and work
Very little is known about the early life of Lilius/Lilio/Giglio. It is known that he came from
CalabriaCalabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, either from
CiròCirò can refer to:*Cirò , Italian comune in the province of Crotone*Cirò Marina, Italian comune in the province of Crotone*Cirò , wine made in the environs of Cirò...
or Zirò. He studied medicine in
NaplesNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
, after which he served Earl
CarafaCarafa is the name of a noble Neapolitan family of Italian nobles, clergy, and men of arts.* Cardinal Antonio Carafa, nephew of Paul IV* Cardinal Carlo Carafa, nephew of Paul IV...
. He lectured in medicine at the
University of PerugiaUniversity of Perugia is a public-owned university based in Perugia, Italy. It was founded in 1308, as attested by the Bull issued by Pope Clement V certifying the birth of the Studium Generale....
from 1552.
He is primarily known as the creator of the
Gregorian CalendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
, after writing a manuscript titled
Compendiuem novae rationis restituendi kalendarium (Compendium of the New Plan for the Restitution of the Calendar). However, the
reform to the calendarA calendar reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar.Most calendars have several rules which could be altered by reform:...
did not occur until six years after his death, when his brother Antonio presented the manuscript to
Pope Gregory XIIIPope Gregory XIII , born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope from 1572 to 1585.-Youth:He was born in the city of Bologna, where he studied law and graduated
in 1530...
. The manuscript was then given to the reform commission, and was adopted in 1582, after some modification by
Christopher ClaviusChristopher Clavius was a German Jesuit mathematician and astronomer who was the main architect of the modern Gregorian calendar...
. The
papal bullA Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a pope. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it....
was issued on February 24, 1582 ordering Christians to adopt the new calendar.
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